So my faith in all that is American has been attacked today.
To sum up: A friend of mine (more of an acquaintence) was allegedly involved almost a week ago in a domestic violence situation. Nevermind the fact that I read about it in the newspaper - leading me to AGAIN question the quality of my friendship with my "close friends" - but the newspaper got it all wrong, and I know this without even talking to The Accused.
The specific facts aren't important for the purposes of this post, but here are the basics: The Accused's daughter, the one making the report, has a history of poor choices (read: ignorant. Did I mention ignorant?), the most recent of which includes - at age 20- "He said I couldn't get pregnant in a pool." Two and 1/3 kids later, she continues to smoke meth and pot, drink, and then blame "being kneed in the stomach" for the miscarriage. Which no one except the police believes for a minute ever happened. The Accused weighs about a buck soaking wet and smokes a good amount of weed herself, a pastime not known to inpsire much violence, or activity for that matter. I've been around her stoned more often than not, and she's pretty much the silent, giggly type. Not to mention that she wouldn't hurt a fly.
To sum up: A friend of mine (more of an acquaintence) was allegedly involved almost a week ago in a domestic violence situation. Nevermind the fact that I read about it in the newspaper - leading me to AGAIN question the quality of my friendship with my "close friends" - but the newspaper got it all wrong, and I know this without even talking to The Accused.
The specific facts aren't important for the purposes of this post, but here are the basics: The Accused's daughter, the one making the report, has a history of poor choices (read: ignorant. Did I mention ignorant?), the most recent of which includes - at age 20- "He said I couldn't get pregnant in a pool." Two and 1/3 kids later, she continues to smoke meth and pot, drink, and then blame "being kneed in the stomach" for the miscarriage. Which no one except the police believes for a minute ever happened. The Accused weighs about a buck soaking wet and smokes a good amount of weed herself, a pastime not known to inpsire much violence, or activity for that matter. I've been around her stoned more often than not, and she's pretty much the silent, giggly type. Not to mention that she wouldn't hurt a fly.
She's not a typical or ideal mother/wife/etc. though and I wonder if that's why, in this backwoods town in the Bible-belt, below the Mason-Dixon line, the "authorities" were so quick to believe the charges. To wit: owns her own home independent of a husband (a rarity in these parts), is a Wiccan, got herself out of an abusive marriage, lost a husband to a drug addiction, and has helped raise, and provide for, her two grandchildren while having a tween of her own. She may not be the poster woman for good clean living, but she has a job, supports her family, and gets along as best she can.
My "come to Jesus" moment happened when I realized how much is left out of one seemingly benign newspaper article. (Benign if it isn't your reputation being maligned.) Where is the reponsible reporting? There was a witness to the entire incident, who was interviewed BY THE POLICE and reported TO THE POLICE that the charges were a falsity almost in their entirety. The newspaper never even contacted her OR The Accused. Granted, the article was true per se in that it covered the original police report, but isn't there an obligation to at least try to get all the facts? Not to mention the fact that the daughter saw a doctor ONE DAY PRIOR to the "incident" who told her that the baby was not viable and she would have to come in for a DNC if nature did not take its course over the weekend. Another doctor at the hospital even stated that he could not confirm the miscarriage happened as a result of the allegations. Where then does the newspaper get the headline," ...woman charged after injuring pregnant daughter, causing miscarriage." (emphasis added)
My "come to Jesus" moment happened when I realized how much is left out of one seemingly benign newspaper article. (Benign if it isn't your reputation being maligned.) Where is the reponsible reporting? There was a witness to the entire incident, who was interviewed BY THE POLICE and reported TO THE POLICE that the charges were a falsity almost in their entirety. The newspaper never even contacted her OR The Accused. Granted, the article was true per se in that it covered the original police report, but isn't there an obligation to at least try to get all the facts? Not to mention the fact that the daughter saw a doctor ONE DAY PRIOR to the "incident" who told her that the baby was not viable and she would have to come in for a DNC if nature did not take its course over the weekend. Another doctor at the hospital even stated that he could not confirm the miscarriage happened as a result of the allegations. Where then does the newspaper get the headline," ...woman charged after injuring pregnant daughter, causing miscarriage." (emphasis added)
Add this to the background: The daughter is/was/who knows dating a man - who may or may not be the father -who was shot LAST WEEK and claimed he just thought it was a stomachache. This is six months after he was cleared for shooting a man IN MY APARTMENT COMPLEX in the back in "self-defense." I live in a nice place made up of mostly retirees and military personnel, in a nice town (pun intended) and that's by anyone's standards. Let me be clear: this is a small town, and these things do not happen everyday. This stuff makes headlines and the front pages.
And no one will care, because they will read that she isn't monied, affluent or whatever, and say that where there's smoke there's fire and that she has had legal troubles in the past, and condemn her based on her lifestyle and choices. Innocent until proven guilty, my friends. It's a shame that sounds so trite; no one believes it anymore.
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